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cat 5

Matt is building a new house and has run cat 5 ethernet around the house. But should he also use a mesh router? Leo says he uses Eero at home, but here is one mesh system that's great specifically for Matt's situation: Plume. Plume sells tiny little access points that plug into the wall with an ethernet port. It's still part of a larger mesh network, but it creates very localized access from the ethernet.

Jeff is building a house and he wants to know the best way to wire up the house. Leo says that if he has bare open walls, he should put in conduit. That will future proof his home for whatever comes down the line. Then he can run Cat6 Ethernet, if he can afford it. Cat 5e is just as good, and more affordable.

George is a system integrator and he knows about wireless HDMI. George says that video scalers like DVDo.com have wireless HDMI 60Hz solutions that work really well because it handles spectrum that isn't used much. It works great -- up to 50 feet. And the walls aren't really an issue. George says that doing it through Cat5 or Cat 6 and baluns work as the best option in that case.

Dave has been using Cat 5e Ethernet and plans to put it in his home, but now everyone is using Cat 6 because of gigabit Ethernet. Using Cat 6 going forward will future proof him, but at the end of the day, Wireless is a pretty strong technology. It's also way easier to setup. However, if the walls are open while he's building the house, he may as well do it. There's really no such thing as future proofing with any hardware, though. Eventually, it's going to be outdated. If Cat 6 is too pricey, 5e is fine. And he can double up on plug sockets.